Pit Stop
by This Pen Name Has 0 Numbers
Summary: Nite Owl makes a slight miscalculation that jeopardizes the flight to Veidt's compound. Rorschach is not amused. Oneshot. Please R


A tense silence filled the cramped aircraft, with neither party willing to risk speaking out of fear doing so would admit fault. Nite Owl continued to scan the terrain below as he flew, though he had given up the hope of seeing anything more than the seemingly endless expanse of blue that covered the world underneath him. Still, out of desperation more than anything else, he continued his silent watch, holding to the thin slimmer of hope that he could somehow outlast his ally turned adversary. Unfortunately, he knew this to be an uphill battle; He knew from the numerous stakeouts from the days before the Keene-Act that Rorschach could remain silent for hours, unflinchingly sitting the same way he was doing now in the back of Archie. With a sigh that seemed to convey all the weariness in the world, Nite Owl finally broke the silence that had encompassed their journey for the past three hours.

"Listen, Rorschach, we'll be at Veidt's soon, so can we please just bury the hatchet and work things out before…"

"_Nothing to work out. You were unprepared. Jeopardized mission. Very bad._"

Nite Owl let out another sigh, though this one was by far more aggressive than the last. No matter the situation, Rorschach always had the ability to put him on the defensive.

"Like I told you before, I was prepared for what I thought would be a sensible length for the journey. There was no way I could've expected…"

"_Exactly. You didn't expect it. Your shortsightedness may have cost us the mission. May have cost lives. Expected better from you._"

"Would you quit accusing me!? God, you don't even let me finish my explanations before you start to argue."

Rorschach let loose a bitter sound that seemed to fall somewhere between a chuckle and a grunt. It was one of the few times that Nite Owl ever heard him make a sound that could be construed as a laugh.

"_Fine then Daniel, have it your way. Let's hear your explanations._"

Nite Owl turned back to look at his partner, finding the shifting mass of black and white that the man considered his face staring at him the same, unreadable tension that had come to characterize Rorschach. Grunting with defeat, Nite Owl turned away and repeated the logic he had stated nearly fifteen times now.

"As I explained before, after we got to my house and began to stock Archie for our trip, I took into consideration the possibility we may have an extended flight to reach the head of this "Mask-Killer" conspiracy. Still, to expect me to prepare for a flight from New York to Antarctica would have been ludicrous. I doubt Archie can even hold that much..."

"_Doesn't change anything. Still should have had a plan for such a situation. One mistake could bring an end to all the progress we've made._"

"You think I don't know that! You think I would do something that would put any of us in danger!? That I would willingly endanger you? Me?" There was a slight pause as Nite Owl turned his attention back to guiding the ship, resuming a stern, unflinching persona before muttering, "Laurie…"

Rorschach looked up at his companion, studying the body language of his friend that he could see over the back of the chair the man was sitting on. Standing for the first time in three hours, Rorschach walked to the front of the ship, placing a hand on Nite Owl's shoulder when he reached the cockpit.

"_Daniel…I apologize. The last few weeks have been…difficult. I know you would not willingly endanger any of us. As I said before, you are a good friend._"

Nite Owl took a second to look back up at his friend; staring back into the same, unreadable "face" had provided the same monotone voice as always. Still, somehow, he could tell the remorse was real.  
"You know what, forget about it. We both overreacted. Let's just get ready for Veidt. Like I said, we're just about to reach Antarctica."

And with that, the two resumed their preparations for the battle they were about to charge into.

* * *

Meanwhile, over a thousand miles away, a 17 year old Peruvian boy frantically repeated his tale to the cynical police officers for what would be the seventh of twelve unsuccessful attempts to convince them of what he saw. As he recounted his tale of an oval ship of light descending from the heavens, a few of the younger officers allowed a smile to graces their faces. When the boy told of the ship going black before touching down to the street with a hiss, the grins seemed to spread across the room as more members of the force crammed into hear the tale. By the time the boy had gotten to the part about the "bird-man" exiting the ship with "a man with a shifting face of black and white and a blood stained coat", even the most serious of officers began to grin, while the new cadets began to the chuckle at the ridiculousness of the story. It would be the description of the Bird-man taking a plug out the side of the ship and attaching it to one of the numerous power hydrants around the city, however, that would cause the room to break into all-out laughter.

* * *

A/N: Just a little drabble I thought of while watching the new movie. After reviewing the comic, I found out there was no mention of refueling the ship while Nite Owl and Rorschach made their way to Veidt's compound. The only explanations for this I could think of were: A. Archie has fantastic mileage, or B. the pit stop was left out of the comic. This is my interpretation of what happened if it was the latter.


End file.
